There is a Kenya A and a Kenya B. If you were to divide the country in half, Kenya A is everything south of Eldoret in the west and Isiolo in the east. Kenya B is to the north – stretching from the border of Somalia to the east and South Sudan and Ethiopia toRead More

David Muchui, a blogger from Meru, posted this October 16 article about The BOMA Project: Manyatta Banking, Enterprises, Taking Root Among Pastoralist Communities A group of women guide their donkeys through the vast Kaisut Desert of Marsabit County laden with shop supplies bought from Korr trading centre miles away from their Manyatta where they are now operating kiosks.Read More

Semeji, BOMA’s security man, provides a traditional blessing to begin the BOMA presentation of the Rural Entrepreneur Access Project (REAP) to the DFW group. After each intonation, the group is asked to hold their palms up and as they say “aawoom,” close their palms, and then re-open them for the next blessing. Holding my runguRead More

Kura and Omar picked me up at dawn and we left the chilly, belching city for the farms and ranches of the Mt. Kenya region. In Nanyuki we stopped to have Gumps lubed and I picked up 3,000 shillings in air time for my modem and gifts for the women. By the time we reached Isiolo theRead More

It was wonderful to finally arrive in Nairobi last night and be met by Ahmed Omar Ahmed, or “Kura” (Swahili for vote), BOMA’s Operations Director, as well as Captain James Neepe. Captain is a retired military helicopter pilot, now a commercial pilot ferrying politicians, rich visiting Americans and company executives around the country. Captain is also BOMA’s ChairmanRead More

5 a.m., February 20 In about 24 hours I will arrive in Nairobi. This morning I will put together the last of my things. I have two large roll-on duffel bags, one medium-sized duffel bag, a wheeled carry-on bag and my backpack. All of my clothes are wrapped around the various fragile items. In the carry-on IRead More

T-minus one week for departure to Kenya. A pile is starting to grow in my office as I assemble the items from my packing list. It is the same list I have usedfor years and with each trip, it gets a little more refined. I also have items that just live in a bag whichIRead More

I am off in a few days for another month in Kenya. I leave at a time of great optimism for the BOMA Project’s work. Donations in 2009 were up 146% from the previous year! We now have 12 trained Business Mentors who lead our skills training programs. Last month we launched 100 new businessesRead More